1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for the generation of singlet-delta oxygen, and more particularly it relates to an improved system for the generation of molecular oxygen in the excited singlet-delta electronic state, O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.), by the reaction of a liquid with a gas.
2. Description of Prior Art
The excited molecular oxygen, O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.), is mainly used as an exited species reactant in the chemical iodine laser.
The chemically excited iodine laser is a laser which oscillates the transition between an excited atomic iodine, I(.sup.2 P.sub.1/2), originated in a chemical reaction and completed by transfer of energy from the excited molecular oxygen, O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.), and an atomic iodine, I(.sup.2 P.sub.3/2), in the ground state. This excited molecular oxygen, O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.), is generated by the reaction of an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution (H.sub.2 O.sub.2) with chlorine gas in an aqueous solution of an alkali such as sodium hydroxide, for example. The reaction involved herein can be represented by the following reaction formula. EQU H.sub.2 O.sub.2 +2NaOH+Cl.sub.2 O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.)+2NaCl+2H.sub.2 O
The methods heretofore adopted for this reaction have generally comprised injecting chlorine gas in the form of bubbles into a mixture of H.sub.2 O.sub.2 with an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution [U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,461,756, 4,246,252, 4,310,502, and 4,432,116; J. Appl. Phys., 52 (8), August (1981); Appl. Phys. Lett., 45 (10), Nov. 15 (1984); and Appl. Phys. Lett., 41 (1), 1 July (1982)]. In accordance with these methods, however, since the generated O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.) must pass the solution and the proportion of the O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.) quenched in the solution is very large, the ratio of generation actually obtained [the proportion of the partial pressure of O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.) to the whole oxygen pressure] is only about 40 to 60%. Further, these methods have suffered a disadvantage that when the volume of chlorine gas is increased, the heat of reaction includes heavy formation of bubbles and impedes the reaction and limits the amount of O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.) produced.
An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a novel system for the generation of singlet-delta oxygen.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system for generating the excited molecular oxygen, O.sub.2 (.sup.1 .DELTA.), in an extremely high ratio, by the reaction of a liquid with a gas.